of
the [river] Cauthar flow into it.

"He shall also believe the [last] account, in which men shall be divided
into those that shall be reckoned withal with the utmost strictness, and
those that shall be dealt withal more favorably, and those that shall be
admitted into paradise without any manner of examination at all; namely,
those whom God shall cause to approach near to himself. Moreover, he
shall believe that God will ask any of his apostles, whomsoever he shall
please, concerning their mission; of the infidels, and whomsoever he
shall please, what was the reason why, by their unbelief, they accused
those that were sent to them of lying. He will also examine the heretics
concerning tradition, and the faithful concerning their good works.

"He shall also believe that all who confess one God shall, upon the
intercession of the prophets, next of the doctors, then of the martyrs,
and finally of the rest of the faithful--that is, everyone according to
his excellency and degree--at length go out of the fire after they have
undergone the punishment due to their sins.

"And if besides these remain any of the faithful, having no intercessor,
they shall go out by the grace of God; neither shall any one of the
faithful remain forever in hell, but shall go out from thence though he
had but so much faith in his heart as the weight of an atom. And thus,
by the favorable mercy of God, no person shall remain in hell who in
life acknowledge the unity of the Godhead.

"It is also necessary that every true believer acknowledge the
excellency of the companions [of Mahomet] and their degrees; and that
the most excellent of men, next to Mahomet, is Abu-Bekr, then Omar, then
Othman, and then Ali. Moreover, he must entertain a good opinion of all
the companions, and celebrate their memories, according as God and his
apostles hath celebrated them. And all these things are received by
tradition, and evinced by evident tokens; and he that confesseth all
these things, and surely believeth them, is to be reckoned among the
number of those that embrace truth, and of the congregation of those
that walk in the received way, separated from the congregation of those
that err, and the company of heretics.

"These are the things that everyone is obliged to believe and confess
that would be accounted worthy of the name of a Mussulman; and that,
according to the literal meaning of the words, not as they may be made
capable of any sounder sense; f